technologyMoocs: the good, the bad and the future

Virtual Mobility for international work placeMents e-education and the disappearing huMan factor your guide to strategic enrolMent ManageMent

spring 2013

Discussing international education

Published byEuropean Association for International EducationPO Box 11189, 1001 GD Amsterdam, The Netherlandstel +31-20-344 51 00, fax +31-20-344 51 19e-mail info@eaie.org, www.eaie.org

Editor Michael CooperPublications Committee Michael Cooper (Chair), Jill Archer, Mary Bishop, Ole Faaborg, Linda Johnson, Frank Wittmann

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Copyright © 2013 by the EAIE All rights reserved. Extracts from Forum may be reproduced with permission of the Editor. Unless stated otherwise, opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the position of the EAIE.

ISSN 1389-0808

Cover michaeljung (shutterstock)

Contents

04 Editorial

07 HotofftHEprEss Your guide to the latest publications

08 tEcHnologicaltimElinE Developments impacting higher education

over the years

10 onlinEanddistancEEducation Europe is catching on

12 tHEmoodformoocs An insight into the growing phenomenon

16 tHEfuturEofglobalHigHErEducation Where is online learning heading?

19 Virtualmobility A flexible approach

22 rEturnoftHEE-uniVErsity An interview with Paul Bacsich

26 wHo’sin(quality)control? A greater focus required

28 opEnEducationalrEsourcEs A Nordic perspective

32 tHEHumanfactor Is pure e-education the future?

36 tEcHnologyopEnsdoors A level playing field for students with disabilities

38 stratEgicgoalattainmEnt A new model for measurement

40 stratEgicEnrolmEntmanagEmEnt A framework for institutional change

42 turkisHHigHErEducation Preparing for EAIE Istanbul 2013

46 pErspEctiVEs A senior lecturer’s views on social media

47 calEndar Upcoming events in the field

12 “MOOCs make university leaders nervous” annacolombini

32 “Unless the inner technology of the human brain changes, pure e-learning will not serve students”micHaElbourkE

22 “The model of university as

we know it is not in good shape”inconVErsationwitHpaulbacsicH

40 “Institutions are more reliant than ever on

the number of students they enrol” bobbontragEr

03forumspring 2013

the Mood for

Moocs

Photo: file404 (shutterstock)

12 forumSpring 2013

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a hot spot for international education at the moment, getting quite a lot of attention – in some cases even nervous attention – from a variety of stakeholders. Where did they come from and what exactly is all the fuss about?

Let’s start with some definitions: a MOOC is a free-of-charge class taught via the web to a large number of learners – where large means

really large: hundreds or thousand of students – with a minimum number of instructors. MOOCs are currently being offered by companies in collaboration with renowned universities and individual scholars.

In a short period of time, some of these courses have attracted tens of thousands of learners around the globe: some of the providers claim to have millions of registered learners. Registration is quite easy: all you need is an internet connection, a mobile device and an e-mail address and you can browse a catalogue of courses offered by the world’s top universities.

wHErEdiditallstart?

George Siemens, a Canadian professor and researcher, led an open online course in 2008 for 25 paying stu-dents at the University of Manitoba. The same course was offered for free to an extra 2300. The course was reported as a landmark in the small but growing push towards open teaching. In 2011, Stanford University opened up a course on Artificial Intelligence to 100 000 students from over 200 countries. Later on, this type of course became known as a MOOC.

The main providers of MOOCs today include Coursera, founded by professors from Stanford Uni-versity, defined as ‘a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free’. Following in its footsteps is edX, ‘a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web’. Another key actor is Udacity, born

out of the Stanford University experiment with the hundred-thousand classroom on Artificial Intelli-gence, and Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organisa-tion with the goal of ‘changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere’. And more are coming: just type ‘MOOC’ into Google, and one of the top results is ‘MOOC List’, a site with a complete list of MOOCs offered by the best universities and entities.

tEcHnologicaltsunami

These developments are all loosely linked to the technological tsunami we are living in, characterised by the use of digital, personalised technology, and by

the attitude that goes with it – the habit of accessing information anytime, anywhere. The higher education students of today grew up with a technology mindset, and they are 24/7 consumers. MOOCs are built on these new technologies and related behaviours which have emerged over the last few years. Some experts predict that in the next few years hundreds of millions of students in India, China, and Africa will access low-cost education thanks to low‐cost mobile learning technology. All this cannot but raise questions about the future of teaching, the value of a degree, and the effect technology will have on how higher education institutions operate.

diffEringViEwpoints

International organisations dealing with higher education are watching the phenomenon with atten-tion: the European University Association (EUA) reports on its website a recent discussion on MOOCs and their potential impact.1 The results of a recent

tHEHigHErEducationstudEntsoftodaygrEwupwitHatEcHnologymindsEt,tHEyarE24/7consumErs

annacolombiniCa’ Foscari University, Italy

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questionnaire sent to EUA members highlighted that while approximately two-thirds of the respondents had heard about MOOCs, only one-third could confirm that MOOCs had already been an issue of discussion in their institution. The Council members expressed a general consensus that “the MOOCs should be closely monitored, but also that beyond the present excitement, it would be important to analyse innovative learning provision trends, and also consider implications for institutional recognition practice and defi-nition of degrees”. The EUA announced that a task force will be established to look at these issues.

On a different note, UNESCO recently concluded the ‘Mobile Learning Week’ (18–22 February 2013) and the comments were that: “The outlook for mobile learn-ing is promising. Mobile devices such as tablets, mobile phones and e-readers are being used by increasing numbers of peo-ple”. Janis Karklins, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and

Information told forum attendees, “We cannot continue to pretend that we live in the pre-digital era, and to do so risks plunging schools into irrelevance. We live in a world where many, if not most young people carry a powerful, easy mobile computer in their pockets. The question is not whether schools and school systems will engage with these mobile technologies but when they will and how they will.”2

nEwcompEtition

MOOCs make university leaders nervous: they worry about having to compete with free courses from some of the world’s most exclusive universities. Institutions which

aren’t on board yet are afraid of missing a momentous occasion, of being old-fashioned, not in line with the digital era. Some of them are rushing in: in the month of February 2013, Coursera proudly an-nounced that 29 new universities joined in, almost doubling the number of schools offering courses on their platform. For the first time, courses across many topics will be offered in languages like French, Span-ish, Chinese and Italian.

scEptics

Media are giving great attention to the phenomenon, announcing a major revolu-tion in teaching and learning systems. But there are many sceptics, and for a number of reasons. First of all, many issues related to MOOCs still need to be dealt with, for example, the possibility of awarding credits for MOOCs. In addition, completion rates are very low; assessment, grading and

cheating are all challenges that have yet to be met.

In an article published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, in February 2013, author Nigel Thrift, Vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, UK, analysed some reasons for the current ‘obsession’ with MOOCs, among which he listed middle-class anger over tuition costs and the search for ways of reducing higher-education spending, and of teaching more people more efficiently. He concluded with the advice to calm down, predicting that – as much academic research on informa-tion technology has shown – MOOCs will change some things and not others.

Nonetheless, Warwick Univer-sity decided to join in “because we think MOOCs can become another generally benign way that universities can extend their influence and general visibility while realising some of the benefits of university education for those who might not other-wise receive it”.3

The jury is still out on MOOCs, but whatever the verdict, MOOCs are pro-vocative for higher education as they ask for flexibility and alternative models of delivering education. We still don’t now how much they will change the educa-tional landscape but we must all get ready to face new challenges.

1. www.eua.be/news/13-02-25/Massive_Open_Online_Courses_MOOCs_EUA_to_look_at_development_of_MOOCs_and_trends_in_innovative_learning.aspx.

2. www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/mobile_learning_we_cannot_continue_to_live_in_the_pre_digital_era.

3. To MOOC or not to MOOc. (13 February, 2013). Retrieved from The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/to-mooc-or-not-to-mooc/31721.

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tHEcomplEtionratEsarEVErylow;assEssmEnt,gradingandcHEatingarEallcHallEngEstHatHaVEyEttobEmEt

15forumspring 2013